"Do what you do so well, that people can't resist telling others about you." - Walt Disney

e-RPDS 10/06/2017

Letter from the Director

Dear Redeemer Community,

Why Redeemer? October begins Admissions season and when giving tours I try to help visitors envision the answer to that question. Redeemer is much more than could ever be revealed in one short tour, but it begins with this.

Our school is a fantastic community of people - a community of families, teachers, administration and Church. Bonds and friendships form that last a lifetime. Redeemer also does an amazing job of creating a balance between play and academics. We have a vibrant educational environment where our students find that learning is fun and constant. Walking through our halls you will notice that we are a little messy and noisy. We might be sprawled out on the floor or running outdoors. We are curious and playful. We question, and we explore. This is how we learn best. We also do a remarkable job of preparing our students for wherever they go after us, whether it is to a public school in the city or the county, an independent school or a parochial school. We hear time and time again how prepared our students are.

Most of all we strive to live by Walt Disney's advice "Do what you do so well, that people can't resist telling others about you." Our best marketing tool is you, and we very much appreciate all you do to promote our school. If you know of families interested in Redeemer, please have them call or email the school office to set up an appointment. Redeemer is a special place, and we hope to share it with everyone!

Enjoy the weekend!

Best regards,

Mary Knott

Classroom Updates:

Mrs. Barta's Pre-first:

The Pre-first children have jumped right into the writing process. We have been busy practicing our writing skills in our journals, on the smartboard, at the writing center, creating class books and through writer's workshop. We have finished our review of the alphabet and have moved on to reading, writing and tapping out CVC words. In Math, the Pre-first students are becoming pros at comparing numbers through a variety of games called Monster Squeeze, Bunny Hop and Top It. This

week, we have begun our unit on spiders and we will begin working on our mapping skills in Social Studies.

Mrs. Smith's and Mrs. Vandenberg's Kindergartens:

We can't believe October is here already! The first month of school has flown by and Kindergarten is in full swing. In math, we are practicing writing the numerals 1-10 correctly, as well as working on positional words (on, beside, under, bottom, between, and next to), and days of the week. In language arts, we will be identifying the letters c, o, a, g, d and s. See if you can challenge your child to find words that start with various letters as you are driving or taking a walk. During our unit time, we are going to be working on colors, fire safety, and bats. Please remember to "Be Kind, Be Safe, and Have Fun"!

Mrs. Faint and Mrs. Baker's Pre-k:

Letter D has kept us busy with making patterns on dinosaurs, gluing dots on Dalmatian puppets, digging in dirt and painting paper donuts as well as seeing, touching, smelling, cooking and tasting donuts! Next week, we will estimate, examine , explore and count exits. We will also be discussing what hatches from different sizes and colors of eggs. Our Coffee and Donut shop in the dramatic play area has been a hit though we have noticed mostly all workers and very few customers. No surprise since it is more fun to work the register, write up orders and pretend pour than wait to be handed a cup. We had a green pumpkin from the garden that we are watching turn a little more orange each day - guess that means it is time to start the Halloween crafts! Enjoy Fall with your family!

Mrs. Loeb and Mrs. Vahedi's Pre-k:

Hello from Mrs. Loeb's pre-K!

We have been learning the letters' "C" and "D", practicing our weather poem, and cooking. We are setting the table for snack, baking cookies, and learning to cut all types of shapes and lines with scissors. We have painted with cars, added dots to dog masks, and learned our "D" names. We are learning to be kind and practicing to be quieter when we walk down the hall so as not to disturb the other classes. We are learning to clean up after ourselves, put on our smocks, and wash our hands really well! We love library, science, music and art. We love being silly, dancing the hokey pokey, and listening to stories. We are having fun!

Mrs. Hooper and Mrs. Grieves' 3s:

Your children are busy making new friends and engaging in "creative play" together. They are a very active and happy group which is a joy to see! Last week we finished up our month of RED CIRCLES. We made apple prints as well as a

"paper pizza" with cheese and round red pepperoni's. We even treated all of the 3's to a Pizza Party....what a Fun and Yummy Friday we all had!! We have begun October with ORANGE TRIANGLES and ' Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater' is our nursery rhyme for the month! The children have started their Fall/Halloween Counting Book #1-5. Each page will have an artful creation and a poem to go with it. We are practicing lots of rhyming in the 3 Day 3's as we work on our reading readiness! Counting skills and letter recognition are practiced each day with calendar work, name recognition and LETTERS on our whiteboard. Coloring with crayons and markers as well as cutting with scissors are helping to improve the children's "pencil grip" in addition to strengthening their little hands....practice makes perfect and mistakes are how we learn! Looking forward to seeing you all at the Fall Fair on the 21st!!

Mrs. Schroeder and Miss Ball's 3s:

The 5 day 3s are excited for October! We have begun a new poem Peter, Pumpkin Eater, as well as reading other poems such as An Elephant Went Out to Play, Farmer In The Dell and 10 Little Ghosts. We are now working on the color Orange, Triangles and the letters E,F, G,H. We are also going to be making Halloween decorations for our classroom, and a Fall Counting Book. The focus of our counting book is the numbers 1-5 and using fine motor skills while recognizing typical Halloween themes.

In our class we are also talking about real vs. pretend. Halloween is a prefect time of year for discussing classic characters such as Frankenstein and vampires and learning why we do not need to be afraid of monsters. We are also working on our self help skills such as using the bathroom by ourselves and putting on our own smocks. We have found that the children enjoy the satisfaction of having completed a task without assistance and are eager to show off their new skills. We are extending our unit on friendship this year into October. Although we work on social skills all year long in the 3s we are paying special attention to how we speak to friends and what kinds of words are hurtful versus what is kind. We are also making sure that we enjoy this warm fall weather by playing our side as much as we can! Thank you and happy October!

Mrs. Arrup and Mrs. Yanega's 2s:

Happy Fall to all! Our class is beginning to settle in nicely to our routine. Mrs. Yanega and I have had fun with the boys and girls singing songs about apples, making delicious apple sauce, sorting apples and making an apple tree. With the month of October comes studying the color orange, circles and farm animals. This week we played a farm game which required us to drive like a tractor, quack like a duck, gallop like a horse and roll like a pig. We also read the book, Scaredycrow and made our very own scarecrow. Throughout the month please encourage your children identify objects that are the color orange and look for circles in the world around them. We are really enjoying each moment with your children!

Mrs. Wyatt and Mrs. Zuidema's 2s:

September was a great success! We learned about our emotions, apples and the color red. Thank you all so much for your apple contributions. Our applesauce was delicious. As we move into October, our focus will change to Farm Life, Halloween, circles, and the color orange. While you are out and about with your children, help them look for circles and all things orange. During Circle Time, we have been talking about the animals that live on a farm, helping Mother Hen find her different colored eggs, and working on an AB pattern with farmers and cows. Our projects have included ears of corn and scarecrows. Redeemer is expecting baby chicks sometime in the near future which will add to the fun of our farm unit. The change of seasons has given us some beautiful weather. Please remember that the early mornings can be chilly, while the end of our days have been quite warm. We highly recommend dressing your children in layers. As always, thank you for sharing your beautiful children with us.

Lunch Bunch:

Lunch Bunch is already gearing up for Halloween! We are practicing our Halloween songs for the parade and learning some new ones of our own. We have been working on the song Witches Brew by Hap Palmer and have made a Bulletin Board to go with the song. We are planning many Halloween projects and games for October

Office Notes:

Re-enrollment Forms:

Re-enrollment forms for current students for the 2018-2019 school year will be mailed October 20th. In order to reserve a place for your child in our program, we must receive the form by December 1. If we do not have the form by December 1, we cannot guarantee your child a spot. Please note that no money is due at this time. If you have questions, please contact the school office.

Sibling Applications:

We are currently accepting applications for siblings who are NOT currently enrolled in the Day School. All sibling applications must be turned in by December 1 to receive priority status.

Fall Conferences:

Parent teacher conferences are scheduled for Friday, November 10th for the 5 day 3s, pre-k, kindergarten and pre-first. School will not be in session for those classes. All conference times will be mailed on October 20th. The 3 day 2s and 3 day 3s will be in school with no early morning drop-off or lunch bunch.

Billing Update:

Invoices for students who attend Early Morning Drop-off and Lunch Bunch on regular attendance will be e-mailed in the next week and due November 1.

Parent Council Notes:

We rely on help from parents to make this a successful event, so please consider signing up for a small block of time to help staff one of the various games & activities that will be offered. You can sign up
HERE .

Scholastic offers affordable books for every age and reading level. Click
HERE to order. Our activation code is JB4C8 and orders are due by 10/11.Happy Reading!

On Wednesday, September 27, Redeemer students were treated to a special reading of, "The Princess and the Frogs" by author Veronica Bartles. Afterwards students were able to ask questions about her writing process and the content of the story. A copy of the book can be found in the Redeemer library if you are interested in reading it.

Episcopal Schools Service

at Good Shepherd School

Our pre-first and kindergarten students partake in an annual tradition, the Episcopal Schools Service, in October. They gather with students from Good Shepherd and St. David's to celebrate a special chapel together, followed by some play time and a snack.

Sibling Readers

School holidays often bring some very special readers to Redeemer. It is always a pleasure to welcome sibling alums to come back and share a story with our classes. We love to see their smiling faces and how much they have grown!

STEM Discovery Room

Redeemer students at all age levels are enjoying and exploring in our new STEM Discovery room. In addition to the plethora of materials with which to explore our science teacher, Wendy Craig, highlights a STEM challenge of the week. Not only do we look forward to watching our students' ingenuity and creativity, we also can't wait to see how they learn from their mistakes and think outside the box! One of our creative students decided that building a boat would be a better alternative for the Gingerbread man to escape the fox!

Welcoming Committee

We want to extend a very special thank you to our Welcoming Committee, Elizabeth Guerin and Jenn Koster, for planning our Back to School Play Date and Parent Wine & Cheese party. Both events were well-attended and wonderful gatherings for our community.

In preschool we recognize the privilege, responsibility and joy of educating our youngest students. Alongside their parents, we work diligently at building the foundation for their ongoing and lifelong learning. Be sure to click on the link below found in every issue to see our wonderful students in action. Enjoy!

Please add our annual Blessing of the Animals gathering to your calendars. As before, this family-friendly event will take place during Faith at Five, our Saturday evening worship time. Bring your favorite animal friends, stuffed animal or a picture of your beloved pets and join us on Saturday, October 7th at 5 P.M. in the front courtyard to receive this special blessing.

Soul Train Dance Party!

Does "Soul Train" ring any bells or bring up any fond memories (if not for you, then maybe for an older sibling or parent?!)? Do Earth, Wind & Fire and KC & Sunshine Band make you get up and get down on it? Or do you simply like to have a good time with fun people on a
Saturday night? Join us in the Parish Hall
from 7 pm-9 pm on Saturday, October 14 for "Soul Train Dance Party" as we boogie down to some of the greatest disco/dance hits of all time, including Brick House (The
Commodores), Le Freak (Chic) & Let's Groove Tonight (Earth, Wind & Fire). Pizza, munchies and non-alcoholic beverages provided. BYOB (only beer and wine, please). A separate dance party and movie will be hosted onsite in Hale Auditorium for children ages 3 and up. Cash donations accepted at the door for Boots for Baltimore in celebration of their 30th anniversary. Click
HERE for additional information and to RSVP.